Beirut , Lebanon -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Inside a half-empty lecture hall at the American University of Beirut , Maryam Alkhawaja explains her cause .

`` The thing about Bahrain is that nobody really knows what 's going on there because there 's not much media coverage , '' Alkhawaja said during a recent visit . `` But the protests never stopped . ''

At just 26 , the young woman is already one of her country 's most outspoken rights activists , and she 's on a mission : to make sure `` that people across the world , not just the Arab world , across the world , are hearing about what 's going on the ground . ''

To carry out that mission , Alkhawaja -- who has dual Bahraini and Danish citizenship , and is the acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights -- lives in exile and travels the world explaining how her people are oppressed .

Back in the auditorium , her audience is small , but extremely attentive .

`` Every single day , '' Alkhawaja says , `` between 15 to 25 different areas come out to protest in Bahrain . Every single day . ''

Those demonstrations began in February 2011 , at the height of the Arab Spring . Bahraini citizens , spurred by successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt , demanded democratic reforms and other changes in the way the country was run .

Anger from the majority Shiite population was directed at the ruling Sunni minority .

But Bahrain 's uprising failed to gain the traction of other regional revolutions after a crackdown by authorities in the tiny island state , backed by troops from nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates .

Demonstrators say authorities killed dozens of people and arrested , tortured and imprisoned hundreds of others . Opposition leaders have tried to keep the protest movement alive .

For Alkhawaja , the cause continues . She says her countrymen and women will not be silenced , despite the odds they face .

`` When you 're talking about human rights , it 's black and white , '' she says . `` There 's no excuse for committing human rights violations . ''

Alkhawaja accuses Bahrain 's government of committing violations on a daily basis , and says her organization exists in part to document those abuses .

The government denies the claims , saying it has implemented tough penalties for those who incite what it calls `` terrorism . ''

In a statement , the Bahraini government says it has implemented reforms and set up independent bodies to address grievances .

`` We would also like to make it very clear that Ms. Al-Khawaja 's personal misguided view that ` Bahraini citizens are oppressed ' is not representative of the broad consensus , nor of the opposition front , '' the statement said .

The government also acknowledged the country 's `` challenging past '' and said remedies are under way .

`` Since the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry -LRB- BICI -RRB- report in 2011 , Bahrain has made a commitment to address all grievances , as well as well reform the institutional landscape to ensure historical errors are not repeated . In regards to grievances pertaining to any accusation of mistreatment , independent bodies have been established to investigate and address any incident of misconduct that may undermine public confidence in the Ministry of Interior -LRB- MOI -RRB- , even if no formal complaint is filed . ''

Read full government statement

This kind of sparring is nothing new to Alkhawaja , who was literally born into this line of work .

She comes from a well-known family of dissidents . Her father , Abdulhadi Alkhawaja , was sentenced to life in prison for his role in anti-government demonstrations and plotting to overthrow the country 's royal family . Many rights groups have called him a prisoner of conscience .

Her sister , Zainab Alkhawaja , is also a very prominent rights activist , and also currently locked up -- having been sentenced to prison for , among other things , insulting the police .

It can all get to be too much , which is why Alkhawaja says she has to detach .

`` Part of doing this work is teaching yourself to depersonalize all of the cases that you deal with , '' she explains . `` When I talk about Abdulhadi Alkhawaja the political prisoner and the torture victim , or the torture survivor , I do n't talk about Abdulhadi Alkhawaja , my father , who I shared my childhood with -- I talk about Abdulhadi Alkhawaja , the person who is known to Bahrain and is known to the cause . ''

`` When I talk about Zainab Alkhawaja , you know , being separated from her three-year-old child , I 'm not talking about my sister and my niece , '' adds Alkhawaja . `` I 'm talking about Zainab Alkhawaja the Bahraini citizen . ''

Over the past two years , Alkhawaja has become somewhat of a celebrity in the world of human rights activism , and not just in Bahrain .

Regularly invited to conferences around the world , she finds her platform growing every day -- with more than 94,000 Twitter followers . She was even named one of Foreign Policy Magazine 's Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2012 .

She seems happy to address anyone willing to listen . Still , she says , it 's never easy .

`` The thing with being a human rights defender is that it 's always accompanied with guilt because no matter what you do , you feel you 're not doing enough . ''

Which is why Alkhawaja is always connected -- either online or on her phone , no matter where she goes -- reviewing claims , making cases , tweeting updates .

She was in Lebanon for only a few days , but never stopped addressing audiences both digital and physical , large and small , urging the world to listen to the stories of the oppressed , one voice at a time .

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Maryam Alkhawaja was born into a family of activists

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She travels the world to tell stories of Bahraini oppression

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The Bahrain government says it addresses grievances , investigates abuse